Friday, April 20, 2012

Love Battery - Straight Freak Ticket (1995)

Though they were never an overwhelming favorite of mine, I enjoyed Love Battery's body of work for Sub Pop, especially 1993's Far Gone. Two years later when Straight Freak Ticket dropped, on a major label no less, I was less than freaked out in terms of my adoration for it. Love Battery were still plenty wiry and had even retained an air of their dense arrangements, but the psych-punk inclinations that had reverberated through Dayglo and nascent singles had been smoothed over a little too much for my palette. After revisiting SFT a decade and a half later, I've concluded that my judgement in my junior year of higher education may have been a bit hasty. Indeed, there were some spirited standout moments lurking on here after all including, "Red Onion," "Perfect Light," and "Harold's Pink Room." For the novice, I would still recommend getting your LB indoctrination from their 1989-93 Sub Pop heyday (all in print via the usual trifecta of paid digital conglomerates). And btw, they don't sound a stitch like the Buzzcocks.

49 comments:

You have to love Love battery. While this album is definitely a pearler, you are right to say that some of the earlier releases perhaps capture what I always thought was a perfect balance of the shambolic and the dramatic. For me, Dayglo was both the pinnacle and an epiphany.

This is the 1st album I listened to of theirs,never been really able to get into it.Then kinda forgot about them till I found Dayglo cheap and I love that album.I'll have to dig out SFT and give it another spin.